POLICE have charged a man with possessing housebreaking implements after they spotted him acting suspiciously through the council’s CCTV cameras. About 4.10am on Thursday, an 18-year-old man was seen on security surveillance cameras near a business in Beardy Street in Armidale. Officers, who were monitoring the cameras from the police station, were deployed to the scene and stopped and questioned the man. “Police arrested the man who was stopped in the vicinity of a break-and-enter in Beardy Street,” New England Detective Inspector Ann Joy said. READ ALSO: “Police searched the 18-year-old male and located housebreaking implements and property that is the subject of further investigation.” The man was not charged with any break-in offence rather possessing housebreaking implements. He was granted conditional bail to front court later this month. “This is an example of police getting out there and taking that immediate action,” Detective Inspector Joy said. “This incident arose solely by officers observing CCTV footage from council’s cameras at the station and acting before any offence, and that proactive activity starts to have that effect of nipping things in the butt, which police are committed to doing to deter crime in our community.”

“Police searched the 18-year-old male and located housebreaking implements and property that is the subject of further investigation.”

The man was not charged with any break-in offence rather possessing housebreaking implements.

He was granted conditional bail to front court later this month.

“This is an example of police getting out there and taking that immediate action,” Detective Inspector Joy said.

“This incident arose solely by officers observing CCTV footage from council’s cameras at the station and acting before any offence, and that proactive activity starts to have that effect of nipping things in the butt, which police are committed to doing to deter crime in our community.”